PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Lacking the sharpness in his game that saw him take the third-round lead, Collin Morikawa still found himself in position to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, thus ending a frustrating stretch of close calls.
He led by three strokes with five holes to play and was still ahead of Russell Henley at Bay Hill’s par-5 16th when Henley chipped in for an eagle, turning a lead into a deficit that he couldn’t overcome on the treacherous final two holes.
A two-time major winner who did so well in closing out victories early in his career has suddenly been stuck with final-round struggles. Morikawa couldn’t get out of town fast enough. He declined to speak afterward.
“Just heated. Just pissed,” Morikawa said Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass, site of this week’s Players Championship. “Like I don’t owe anyone anything. No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I didn’t want to be around anyone. Like, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t need any ‘sorries.’ I didn't need any ‘good playings.’ Like, you're just pissed.
“Honestly, if it was an hour later I would have talked to you guys, but an hour later I was on my way out of here, because I didn’t want to be in Orlando anymore. But I just felt like I put everything I did into the, let’s call it, seven hours of my time being there, right, a few hours before showing up, physio, workout. Look, my entire routine, right. I was just drained.”
Morikawa isn’t the first player to blow off the media after a tough round and won’t be the last.
It was understandably a tough day for the former University of California golfer who became the first player to win two different majors in his first attempt—the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 British Open—but has found getting to the finish more difficult in recent times.
Since winning the 2023 Zozo Championship for his sixth PGA Tour victory, Morikawa has eight top-five finishes worldwide, including a tie for third at the Masters and a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship. He was also in the top 10 at the U.S. Open and the Open.
“Sunday night was a lot of frustration,” said Morikawa, who shot a final-round 72 to Henley’s 70. “Just looking back over the past year and kind of how I went about my fall was to figure out how to play better in final rounds, and when you don’t play well and you don't close it out, you’re like, how do we go back to the drawing board.
“It’s not really rip everything off and start over, but there’s just little things, right? Obviously I wasn’t hitting it as well, I wasn’t putting as well, but I still had my chances to close it out, and Russ obviously played some great golf. I mean, to make birdie on 14, eagle on 16 and finish out with two pars is great golf out there. So props to him.
“But there’s just small things. I love being in that position. Like, I don’t take it for granted because you just never know. But it was frustrating Sunday night. I have to get over it. I mean, I’m back on my two feet; I’m trying to figure out how to play my best golf here for this week.
“I know my last few finishes haven’t been as good, and yeah, you just move on. I’m going to think about it. I know what happened. I fully am aware of how it played out. But I just have to move on and I have to learn from it. I have to keep getting better. Like I always say, like, you know, why not win this week.”
Morikawa ranked 107th in the final-round scoring average in 2024, a sign that things could obviously be better. It is 53rd this year with a small sample size. He’s also first in average approach proximity, which suggests his hallmark iron play has returned.
His putting has also improved, although Morikawa felt he did not perform well on the greens on Sunday. He still had a birdie putt to tie after Henley chipped in and had another putt on 18, although not necessarily one that was makeable.
All of it added up to a tough couple of days.
“I think I know where I’m at and I know where I’m at with my golf,” he said. “I just have to win. I have to be able to close it out. For me, that’s going to come down to me. I’m the one hitting the shot. I’m the one pulling off the shots, hitting, doing what I need to do. But for me it’s not about the words to fluff it up.
“Like we all know what happened. I think the people—my team knows I don’t need the fluff. Like I'm not about the b.s.-ing and saying all right, good job, we’re doing better, like we’re going to win next week. No, we know what our goal is at the beginning of the week. It didn’t happen, but it’s a lot better position than finishing 40th.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Collin Morikawa Regrouping After Agonizing Loss at Bay Hill: 'I Have to Get Over It'.
